Number of JSA claimants in York at their lowest since before the recession

THE number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in York has fallen to its lowest level since before the recession started.

New unemployment figures show there were 1,931 claimants last month, a decrease of 191 from March and of 967 since April last year.

The claimant count represents just 1.4 per cent of the working population, which contrasts with a regional average of 3.6 per cent and a national average of 2.7 per cent. There has also been a fall of 75 in the number young people claiming JSA .

York council leader James Alexander said the figures were at their lowest levels since pre-recession levels in early 2008.

"It has been a key focus of the council to work to ensure York bounces back from the recession with unemployment levels less than when it started and I am pleased to say we are back," he said.

"Today’s figures are testament to the partnership working in the city to help secure jobs and growth - we are now outperforming the regional and national position."

The number of claimants in North Yorkshire was also sharply down, from 6,246 in March to 5,488 last month, or 1.5 per cent of those eligible to claim.

In East Riding of Yorkshire, the number claiming JSA fell from 4,851 in March to 4,514, or 2.2 per cent of those eligible.

The number fell in Ryedale from 504 to 399, or 1.3 per cent, while in Selby, the number reduced from 1,123 to 1,039 or 1.9 per cent of those eligible.

Comments (1)

Jobless figures always go down when the government wants to publish them. Many were put on useless jobsearch schemes etc so they got jobseekers allowance but weren't included in the unemployed figures. I think many unemployed are now begging on the streets somewhere, or living with relatives as housing benefit stops when jobseekers benefit does. If you look at government sites you will see that on average 60,000 of the unemployed a year have their benefit taken from them for 2 weeks, because they've been abusive to staff in the jobcentre. But this year 2.5 million have had benefit stopped so thats at least one sanction for everybody who is out of work. Making £199 million for the government. A lot of people who were reformed alcoholics and others are now back on the streets as a result of this purge. But wait, if the unemployed are on the streets homeless then they're not entitled to vote in the next general election. So I've not seen any new jobs advertised for new industries etc so it's all window dressing unfortunately

Jobless figures always go down when the government wants to publish them. Many were put on useless jobsearch schemes etc so they got jobseekers allowance but weren't included in the unemployed figures. I think many unemployed are now begging on the streets somewhere, or living with relatives as housing benefit stops when jobseekers benefit does. If you look at government sites you will see that on average 60,000 of the unemployed a year have their benefit taken from them for 2 weeks, because they've been abusive to staff in the jobcentre. But this year 2.5 million have had benefit stopped so thats at least one sanction for everybody who is out of work. Making £199 million for the government. A lot of people who were reformed alcoholics and others are now back on the streets as a result of this purge. But wait, if the unemployed are on the streets homeless then they're not entitled to vote in the next general election. So I've not seen any new jobs advertised for new industries etc so it's all window dressing unfortunatelyC Danton